Baylor to Host Book Signing Aug. 10

Baylor University will host a book signing for Dr. Lawrence Dudgeon Collins, an alumnus and World War II army doctor, from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, in Room 110 of Carroll Library.

Collins is the author of "The 56 Evac Hospital: Letters of a WWII Army Doctor," a collection of letters sent by Collins to his wife during his service in World War II.

Collins served as a part of the "Baylor Unit," a M.A.S.H. detachment made up of surgeons, doctors and interns from the Baylor College of Medicine in Dallas. Officially known as the 56th Evacuation Hospital, the "Baylor Unit" participated in the Anzio Invasion of Italy in 1944.

Collins graduated from Baylor in 1939 as a pre-med student. After operating a pharmacy in Waco for several years, he went to medical school in Tennessee. He later returned to Texas to intern at the Baylor College of Medicine, where he joined the "Baylor Unit."

Collins' original manuscripts are a part of The Texas Collection at Baylor, and his letters have been the subject of a master's thesis.

The book was published in April by the University of North Texas Press.

For more information, contact Kent Keeth, director of The Texas Collection, at 755-1268.